Monthly Archives: October 2012

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First off, CONGRATULATIONS to our Bridechilla™ Emily and her husband Jim! We just had another Off The Beaten Path Wedding and we just want to point out just how simplicity adds not only to the “chill” of your big day, but the beauty. Emily and Jim’s wedding was gorgeous for many reasons, but one of our most favorite reasons was for the touches of orange flowers in wooden boxes that came from one of our [top secret] farms in Petaluma, CA.. see image below for chill floral inspiration.

Bridechillas™ – besides vases and boxes, what other floral carrier ideas have you used?

Tip #11 – How to be a BRIDECHILLA™ – Always, always, always invite the pup to the ceremony.

We love how our Bridechilla™ Molly and her husband Gavin had sweet Ruby present on their chill day. Ruby was in photos just as much as they were, and we just love the floral collar that matched Molly’s bouquet! A little puppy lovin’ makes a true Bridechilla… but we bet little Ruby would look absolutely lovely in our Deja Bridechilla dogwear.

Allison Fairfield is a passionate photographer and specializes in capturing people with their pets which is so apparent in these photos! Cheers to Molly, Gavin and Ruby! and thank you to Allison Fairfield for the photos.

Beneath a big oak tree, overlooking a vineyard, in the backyard… these are only a couple of ideas for a place to say “I do” in the great outdoors. Hands down, having an outdoor wedding is a great way to go. But how do we put the chill factor on an outdoor wedding? To make your chill day more beautiful and unique, try adding a rustic element like a weathered mantlepiece Charles and Debbie had in their wedding featured on Green Wedding Shoes.

Last weekend, Wine Country Weddings Magazine released their second issue featuring inspiration for fashion, food, decor, and more. Off The Beaten Path Weddings creator of BRIDECHILLA, collaborated with WCWM to produce a farmtable decor shoot full of golden trims, rustic table tops, burlap wrapped bouquets, and vintage elements. The romantic setting had chill written all over it, and we can’t wait to see what ideas our future Bridechillas gather from this decor shoot. See the full issue of Wine Country Weddings Magazine by clicking here, to see the Decor story click here.

Congratulations to our Bridechilla™ Erin and her hubby Bryon! They were recently featured on Style Me Pretty and we find many elements in her Off The Beaten Path Wedding to be great inspiration for a chill wine country wedding; from the guest blankets to the romantic poolside evening, we love the the taste this Bridechilla™ has in the details. The Bridechilla shares with SMP, “My husband Bryon and I met in San Francisco in 2009, and when we got engaged in July 2011, he surprised me with a weekend getaway to Napa Valley. When deciding where to have our wedding, wine country was an easy choice. Both of our families and a lot of our friends are from out-of-town, so we really wanted to create a destination wedding weekend so people could make a vacation out of the trip. We found a beautiful Tuscan estate surrounded by vineyards to have our wedding through Off the Beaten Path Weddings. We wanted our wedding to reflect our backgrounds — me being from Birmingham, Alabama, and Bryon being from San Diego. We worked with Off The Beaten Path Weddings to create a menu that reflected a southern inspired comfort food appetizers – mac ‘n’ cheese and shrimp and grits, and a Southern California inspired fish taco. For our signature cocktails, we had “Southern Spiked Sweet Tea” and “Bourbon Ginger Lemonade” served out of mason jars. We really focused on the little details and our guests really noticed! Some of my favorite touches were the sign that my brother-in-law made and I painted that represented where our guests had traveled from, the handmade cork letters and the escort card grape crates. From attending so many weddings, we really wanted focus on our guests’ experience, so we had flip flops for dancing, pashminas, kids’ activities and even 5 Hour Energy and Wine Wipes in the bathrooms. We love food, and all of our table names were restaurants we have visited that were meaningful to us. Bryon’s favorite part was having In-N-Out burgers delivered for a late-night snack. Our wedding was everything we could have asked for and more, and we were so fortunate to have so many people that we care about attend, including five grandmothers and two grandfathers.”

How is everyone’s fall season coming along? Whether your carving your pumpkins or painting them, prepping for a chill alternative wedding, or looking for fall wedding trends and ideas, we’re going to bring you the chillest ones we’ve come across for this season. Be ready to FALL in love with vegetable table decor, autumn apples, seasonal stationary, hay bale seating, and everything else that is chill and perfect for the fall wedding.

We love that fall bouquet and the acorn boutonniere that would also look lovely for a winter wedding. Figs make for great place setting decor and the cozy blankets will be great for guests feeling a little chilly on a brisk fall day. And finally, what kind of autumn wedding isn’t complete without s’more guest favors? You will have your guests leaving with not only a cozy blanket, but a happy tummy. Cheers to you, our Fall Bridechillas!

Pinterest is always providing us with decor DIY’s, floral inspiration, and tons of never-before-seen ideas for our chill weddings. While pinning away last weekend, we came across Stay at Home Susie’s collection of 77 Super Fun Date Ideas. Sometimes we run out of date-spiration and need a helping hand (or list!) to shed some inspiration on the couple that is all dressed up with nowhere to go.

1. Make chocolate covered strawberries

2. Paris night: get a baguette, French wine, and cheese!

3. Read your favorite books to one another

4. Bake cookies together

5. Watch the sunrise, then make breakfast together

6. Attend a local soccer game

7. Watch an entire season of your fav TV show

8. Go for a long drive

9. Planetarium

10. Art gallery

11. Play board games

12. Movie

13. Visit garage sales

14. Volunteer for a homeless shelter

15. Go dancing

16. Go to the driving range

17. Build a snowman

18. Ride go-carts

19. Rent a movie
20. Have a carpet picnic

21. Go to an arcade
22. Play Frisbee
23. Go kayaking24. Go ice skating
25. Visit the pumpkin farm26. Go to a forest preserve
27. Go to ballet performance
28. Visit a place listed in an entertainment book
29. Bike riding30. Study social media marketing31. Bowling
32. Haunted house
33. Out for coffee
34. Visit a flea market
35. Play bingo
36. Go to an opera37. Swing by a bookstore38. Visit another city
39. Go hear jazz or reggae
40. See an NBA game
41. Play in the batting cages
42. Vegas anyone, lol?
43. Piano bar
44. Visit a nursing home and hand out flowers to everyone
45. Have lunch at a trendy new restaurant
46. Grab a fish fry
47. Grab a pint at an Irish pub
48. Chinese food and DVDs – the perfect mix
49. Attend a poetry reading
50. Attend an author reading from their latest fiction work
51. Go antiquing
52. Go out for drinks53. Visit a winery54. Attend a painting class
55. Visit an animal shelter – you may come home with a new pet
56. Go for a carriage ride
57. Visit the tourist spots in your hometown
58. Take a trip to the hobby store – pick out a project to work on for the afternoon
59. Take a walk – around a lake, in the moonlight, by the river, on the beach
60. Go to a festival62. Create a scrapbook
61. Go to a shrimp boil
63. Attend a matinee
64. Visit the zoo
65. Go see a local band
66. Have lunch at a church festival
67. Go camping68. Go hiking
69. Go rock climbing
70. Play croquet
71. Attend a farmer’s market
72. Have dinner at a new place
73. Try out a new cuisine75. Take part in a community theater performance74. Go strawberry picking or visit an apple orchard
76. Attend a live, outdoor music night in your town
77. Go see fireworks

Bridechillas, what are some cool date ideas you’ve done with your beau?

Let’s continue on this Etsy Halloween Kick, shall we? In our last post we shared some of our favorite Etsy Alternative Wedding ideas for dresses, rings, and veils. But now, let’s talk about how cool these “Day of the Dead” embroidered napkins are… they’d be fun to even just keep around the house!

Etsy is always abundant in ideas that we love to share with our readers. October is already here (that was fast!) and we’re having a little bit of chill fun browsing some very spooky wedding ideas. Black gowns, birdcage veils, gothic inspired engagement rings, not your average wedding, right? Let’s take a break from the peonies and pastels and see what an Etsy Alternative Wedding can bring us. Who says you can’t be a Bridechilla in a black gown? 😉 Hey, we once had a bride who was escorted down the aisle in a coffin…what is her wedding date? You guess 🙂